Security Systems News - immigration reformhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/taxonomy/term/6582
enSIA eyes federal budget resolutionhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/sia-eyes-federal-budget-resolution
<div class="field field-name-field-subtitle field-type-text field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">Sequestration could be a factor in determining funding for major security grant programs</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-09-24T00:00:00-04:00">09/24/2013</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-blogger field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Leif Kothe</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>WASHINGTON—The crisis in Syria only further roils what was already expected to be a turbulent few months in Congress leading up to the holidays. Despite the din, the Security Industry Association has developed a plan to advance some of its own objectives, of which there are many.</p>
<p>In the forefront is the resolution on the federal budget, Don Erickson, CEO of SIA, told Security Systems News. SIA will track the resolution closely to determine what funding levels end users can expect to see. The association’s scope will be fixed especially on the port security grant program and the transit security grant program, both of which are administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).</p>
<p>These grants, Erickson says, carry major implications for security installers. “Each of these programs is used by end users for a variety of purposes, including installation of access control systems, video surveillance, biometric devices, [and] card readers,” he said. “It’s a very key source of financing for customers to use to make investments on security solutions and protect their facilities.”</p>
<p>In a similar vein, the SIA will be eying the continued effects of sequestration on these programs, and trying to calculate how much more, if at all, the programs could be reduced. “I don’t think they’ll be increased, so we just want to ensure we have an adequate level of funding for these programs,” Erickson said.</p>
<p>Traditionally, these programs were funded independently, with the funds having separate appropriation “buckets” determined by the federal budget. This is not the case anymore. Congress now allocates a lump sum to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of which FEMA is an agency, and the funds are then meted out to various programs from there, Erickson said.</p>
<p>This change in particular has drastically altered the way funds are disbursed, and, according to Erickson, not for the better.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t provide the predictability for the end user, for the port operator in this case, or the school or transit system,” he says. “We’d like to see funds allocated independently, or in separate streams.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, SIA has immigration reform, but more specifically border control, on its radar. <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hr1417ih/pdf/BILLS-113hr1417ih.pdf" target="_blank">H.R. 1417</a>, a piece of legislation introduced in April by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, dovetails with many of SIA’s objectives, Erickson said, including the push to improve DHS oversight with respect to border security, and the need to develop clearly defined strategies for research and development initiatives.</p>
<p>The legislation, currently with 20 co-sponsors, could have a lot of bearing on video surveillance suppliers and integrators, Erickson said. It will allow government contractors a little more insight into the scale of projects they might be expected to undertake. If enacted down the road, the bill could help suppliers and integrators get a better idea of “where the agency may apply its money,” Erickson said. “It just provides a little more transparency, and a little more direction.”</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<span property="dc:title" content="SIA eyes federal budget resolution" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:10:04 +0000Leif Kothe16810 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/sia-eyes-federal-budget-resolution#commentsBorder security looms large for SIAhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/border-security-looms-large-sia
<div class="field field-name-field-subtitle field-type-text field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">Whether the House warms to the Senate immigration bill or quashes it, border security stands to be part of any reform package</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-08-14T00:00:00-04:00">08/14/2013</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-blogger field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Leif Kothe</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>WASHINGTON—Weeks into the legislative lull of August, the Security Industry Association is gearing up for Congress to return to session in September, when lawmakers in the House will tackle immigration reform.</p>
<p>The association’s approach remains less ideological than informational, Marcus Dunn, director of government relations for SIA, told <em>Security Systems News.</em> The focus is fixed squarely on border security, which is likely to be a major component of any immigration legislation, whether the House rallies around <a href="http://securitysystemsnews.com/article/senate-immigration-bill-includes-major-security-measures" target="_blank">the Senate bill</a> or dismantles it.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be on the Hill a little more than we have been in the past on this issue, just so we make sure members [of Congress] are aware of the solutions the industry has to offer on this important issue,” Dunn said.</p>
<p>SIA’s informational efforts will revolve around three major technological pieces of border security: video surveillance, access control and biometrics. Dunn said it’s important to make members of Congress aware that a number of companies integrate these services, while others develop software, such as intelligent video analytics, that could have important border security applications.</p>
<p>Other technological examples abound when it comes to the intersection of the security industry and immigration reform. Dunn mentioned that there are surveillance cameras that can see in “practically zero light” and are built to “withstand the heat of the border desert” that could serve as strong examples of how well-suited some of the technology is for the unforgiving climate of the Southwestern frontier.</p>
<p>“It’s to let people know the capabilities that are out there, and to ensure that we’re still part of the conversation,” Dunn said. He added: “We try to break it down to a certain technology that’s out there.”</p>
<p>Outside the sphere of immigration reform, some other legislative issues with industry significance are about to come to a head—at least for companies who contract with the government. A pair of bipartisan bills—The Commonsense Construction Contracting Act of 2013; and the Design Build Efficiency and Jobs Act—were introduced July 19 in the House of Representatives.</p>
<p>Both bills are designed to level the playing field between smaller contractors and their larger competitors. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., who introduced the Design Build Efficiency and Jobs Act, fashioned the bill with an eye to implementing a new two-phase process for design-build contract bids.</p>
<p>“If the bid and proposal process can be streamlined to make it more efficient and cheaper for all involved, without sacrificing quality, we should do it,” Graves, chairman of the House Small Business Committee, said in a statement.</p>
<p>According to a report from Law 360, which examined both bills, Graves’ subcommittee found that the cost of bidding in a single-phase procurement process can cost more than three percent of the contract’s value, thus blocking smaller contractors from even entering the bid. Graves’ bill would implement a first phase involving a relatively inexpensive technical assessment that would allow the five most qualified companies to advance to the second phase.</p>
<p>The other bill, the Commonsense Construction Contracting Act of 2013, spearheaded by Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., proposes the banning of reverse auctions, which allow bidders to offer multiple bids, for contracts worth $750,000 or greater.</p>
<p>This bill could put an end to the practice of contractors submitting “lowball bids,” Dunn said, which can compel some companies to submit bids that make certain projects nearly impossible to execute. </p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<span property="dc:title" content="Border security looms large for SIA" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 14 Aug 2013 17:49:50 +0000Leif Kothe16685 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/article/border-security-looms-large-sia#commentsSenate Immigration Bill: On to the House http://securitysystemsnews.com/blog/senate-immigration-bill-house
<div class="field field-name-field-blogger field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:author dc:creator">Leif Kothe</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datestamp field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:created"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:created" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-07-09T00:00:00-04:00">07/09/2013</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden clearfix">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>Fifteen days after the Senate passed S. 744—the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act—the House Republican caucus will hold a meeting to discuss immigration, just as the House prepares to tackle its own legislation, should it follow through on Speaker John Boehner’s plans to scrap the Senate bill. The meeting, which will be private, is slated for Wednesday, July 10. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s744/text">Senate bill</a>, which passed 68-32 on June 27, would earmark about $46 million to bolstering security on America's southern border over the next decade. The border security portion of the bill includes some large-scale provisions, most notably the installation of monitoring technology along the southern flank, the construction of an additional 700 miles of new—and higher—fencing, and a substantial increase in the number of Border Patrol agents. </p>
<p>Also included in the sprawling piece of legislation—it’s nearly 2,000 pages in length—is a measure that would require foreign workers to carry biometrically verifiable ID cards, which include a photo and a fingerprint.</p>
<p>Last week I spoke to Marcus Dunn, director of government relations for the Security Industry Association, who said he was encouraged by this inclusion, and optimistic that even if the House does its own immigration bill, biometrics would remain part of the equation. </p>
<p>In our conversation, Dunn made a strong point regarding technology-based measures included in mammoth—and often polarizing—pieces of legislation like the Senate Immigration bill. Such measures, he said, have the advantage of being less emotionally charged than, say, debates about paths to citizenship, employment implications and wages. So, should the House take its time crafting piecemeal immigration reform, it’s not unrealistic to imagine a technological solution preceding a policy one.</p>
<p>Testament to the relative emotional neutrality of some of the security measures can be found in the amendment package, proposed a day before the bill passed, by a pair of Republican Senators: Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and John Hoeven, R-N.D. Many of the aforementioned provisions were contained in their eleventh hour proposal, and several commentators have credited the amendment as a key reason the bill gained enough bipartisan support to pass. It doesn't seem like a stretch to say that the security portion of the bill was crucial in allowing the Senate to function as it's supposed to: like a political "cooling saucer," a chamber where cooler heads prevail and compromise can be struck. In an era defined by deep ideological fissures in Washington, these things cannot be taken for granted.</p>
<p>With political pressure mounting to get some kind of legislation passed, the meeting scheduled for Wednesday bears close watching. Will Speaker Boehner backtrack on his statements about the House doing its own legislation, or stand firm? Will the Senate bill be jettisoned, or does it have more support in the House than many think? For my part, I'll be looking for what lawmakers have to say about that $46 billion figure. Stay tuned...</p> </div>
</div>
</div>
<span property="dc:title" content="Senate Immigration Bill: On to the House " class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 09 Jul 2013 13:24:51 +0000Leif Kothe16611 at http://securitysystemsnews.comhttp://securitysystemsnews.com/blog/senate-immigration-bill-house#comments